This Day in Dome History: June 26

The Carrier Dome has stood empty on this date since officially opening in September of 1980 as no events have taken place on June 26. Since its doors opened for the Orange football team's contest against Miami (OH) on September 20, 1980, the facility has undergone a few changes.

Video Boards

During the summer of 2003 two Daktronics LEDvideo boards were installed in the Dome. The cost of the project was in excess of $1 million dollars, in addition to significant annual operating costs. The boards feature Daktronics’ Prostar VideoPlus LED (light emitting diode) video display technology. The video system can display live video, instant replay, graphics, animation, player statistics, and out-of-town scores in trillions of shades of color.

The Ernie Davis Room

An athletics department display area is located in the Ernie Davis Room, named for the 1961 winner of the Heisman Trophy. It is changed each season to highlight achievements for each Syracuse University sport.

Floor Surface

The Orange football team played on a new FieldTurf surface, beginning with the 2005 season, after playing on Astroturf during the first 25 years of the Dome’s existence. The floor of the Dome is permanently covered with a 2.5” thick FieldTurf Pro series brand artificial surface. FieldTurf is a synthetic grass surface manufactured with soft, polyethylene fibers surrounded and stabilized by a blend of “synthetic earth” that is a mixture of smooth, rounded silica sand and rubber granules. For events that require the FieldTurf to be covered, including men’s basketball, a BRAVO Mat hard field cover product is used. The BRAVO Mat System, from Composite Mat Solutions, consists of lightweight, easy-to-handle, interlocking, thermoplastic panels that, when assembled, provide a uniformly smooth field protection system. For basketball, a 60’ by 120’ portable court made of northern hard maple is set-up on the BRAVO Mat floor.

Seating

The full Dome seats 18,404 on the lower level, 5,901 on the mezzanine, and 24,142 on the upper level. Thirty-eight private boxes provide another 912 seats, for a total seating capacity of 49,262. Seating capacity for basketball is 33,000 and for concerts about 40,000, including as many as 7,000 temporary seats on the floor. Seating for the disabled is available at all Dome events.

Meeting Space and Other Facilities

The Carrier Dome’s only meeting space is the Orange Pack Room located on the east end of the first-level concourse. Approximately 4,400 square feet of meeting space is available and can be divided into three separate rooms. The Carrier Dome has 14 entranceways, consisting of 32 revolving doors and 62 pressure-balanced doors. In addition to the Orange Pack Room, often used for meetings, luncheons, and dinners, there are 14 concession stands, 16 rest rooms, 16 water fountains, 16 public telephones, and a first-aid room. Facilities not open to the public include five locker rooms and an extensive media operations facility, which seats more than 125 writers. Radio, television, and dark room facilities are also available to the media.

More than 23.5 million people have passed through the revolving doors of the Carrier Dome since the building’s first public event on September 20, 1980. Throughout the 2005-06 SU athletics seasons the University will celebrate the first 25 years of the Loud House.

In the first 25 years of the Dome, more than 1,740 events were staged, including collegiate, professional and high school athletics events, University commencement, concerts, a circus, and community events. These activities are chronicled in the more than 100 photographs that are currently in the concourse of the Dome. Fans who attend events in the Dome can re-live the memories with these photos.

Syracuse University Athletics

Related News

Related Videos